Sea Witch | Theatre Royal Drury Lane

Sunday 1st March 2026 saw Theatre Royal Drury Lane host a concert performance of Sea Witch, a new pop fantasy musical reimagining The Little Mermaid through an original origin story inspired by Sarah Henning’s novel of the same title.

This piece heavily relied on the storytelling from the novel being common knowledge, which was an interesting choice for a book that does not seem to be discussed in the literary canon often - and was clearly not common knowledge for the audiences who audibly reacted to the variety of twists that came to light in the plot heavy second half of the piece. Storytelling and worldbuilding were sparse from the outset.

A relentless stream of pop songs by Segun Fawole introduced characters we were expected to invest in, but without sufficient narrative grounding. Whilst the songs carried some strong orchestrations (that, admittedly, would have felt much more diverse and exciting with a live band instead of pre-recorded tracks by Jeff Nang), a large majority seemed to carry rather weak lyricism.

Songs such as Tidal Wave, Second Place, They Won’t Forget Me Now and Greater Than Love were striking, catchy and undoubtable hits - however, they were overshadowed by the generic and tacky lyricism in songs such as There’s A Light and Every Woman. Many songs, especially in the first act, bled into each other and became repetitive. The first act of the show could have benefited majorly from a rework on music and an increase on storytelling, the piece as a whole did not carry many scenes and aimed to tell the story through music yet, unfortunately, few songs were strong enough vehicles to move this story through with clarity and precision - leaving a large number of confused audience members.

Whilst the second act felt like a vast improvement and had stronger narrative structure, there was still a lot left to be desired and hoped for within the developmental state of the show. Performances of the night were, as expected with such a star studded cast, stellar. Maz Murray brought the house down within her featured role as Queen Charlotte, receiving a much deserved standing ovation mid show. The charisma and character oozed through her entire performance, displaying a bitingly wicked yet emotionally complex performance.

Natalie May Paris led the night as Evie, the misunderstood and charming protagonist, Paris’ vocals were stunning, delivering some gorgeous solos and heartfelt story telling. Yet, a lot of Evie's material - especially in the final 15 minutes - were screaming for further development and explanation; such as the moment she declares she will “no longer hide in the shadows” and proceeds to run away from the entire kingdom's population mere seconds later, confusing the characters intentions. It felt a real shame there was not stronger material for Paris to shine through in a storytelling sense.

Amy Di Bartolomeo was certainly given space to shine, blowing the roof of the Drury Lane with her wicked turn throughout the second half. Performances from the iconic Michelle Visage, charming Djavan Van De Fliert and fiercely talented Natalie Kassanga were also notable mentions from the leading team. However, these star names and powerhouse vocals were not enough to justify the underdeveloped material presented on such a grand scale.

Portraying a singing Greek Chorus, the ensemble were vocally splendid and held the moments of story, even when their involvement was random and fleeting. Act two opened with most of the female identifying ensemble presenting an iconic number called Q.U.E.E.N and whilst the song was brilliant, it evoked the unique stylisation of Six a little too closely, and all the characters presented within the number were introduced and removed within the space of one song, a purely confusing choice. Praise must be sung for the phenomenal Robin Simoes Da Silva, who absolutely won the audiences over with their jaw dropping solo lines, fleetingly showcasing some of the strongest vocals on the West End.

Choreographed by the incomparable Dean Lee, the Dance Company were the true stars of the show. Movement was crafted gorgeously - to the point in which Sea Witch almost steered its sails to becoming a dance show with musical accompaniment from West End Stars. Sharp, clean and striking; the choreography was the clear highlight of the night - but did often feel like an attempt at distracting the audience from the cheap lyricism and lack of storytelling with physical spectacle. Though, all these up and coming dancers have clear bright futures ahead of them.

The lighting design by Joshie Harriette, whilst blinding, was a visual spectacle elevating the choreography and the atmosphere of the music. With such little turnaround time on this night, seeing such complex and striking lighting was impressive and exciting. Additionally, William Henderson also provided striking design and construction within the costuming for Visage and Murray. These specific costumes were opulent and striking, certainly the clearest character and storytelling choices of the night. However, throughout the further costume direction by Kristopher Russell, it would have been nice to see further imagination for characters such as Evie and Annemette, the stories representative of good and evil, whose characters were bound to the colours of white and black respectively.

Whilst the night had some undeniably sensational vocals from the company and striking choreography, none of these factors could outweigh the underdeveloped book by Michael David Glover and the wavering score by Fawole. This piece does carry potential for real success if there is some thorough work on ensuring the content is able to tell the story. If there was work on the pacing, implementing more storytelling devices throughout the music and book and removing random plot additions, such as the abrupt and unexpected introduction of a duel between cousins at the end of act one, we could have an exciting new

story on our hands. But ultimately, this one night concert unfortunately felt like an undercooked presentation of pop songs written through the musical theatre lens with a novel attached to them to create some form of narrative.

★★☆☆☆ (2*)

Gifted tickets in return for an honest review | Photography by Danny Kaan